There is a club or team for virtually every area of interest, and all of our students – from Kindergarten to Grade 12 – are encouraged to explore and develop all passions and talents, both new and longstanding.

The Music Program at Meadowridge

Meadowridge’s music program is designed for every student to experience the ingenuity of sound.

Here, students don’t simply listen to learn, they get hands on: they pick up guitars and hand bells, drum on marimbas and xylophones, sing as soloists and as an ensemble, they read, and write, and record music… Students are dignified as active meaning-makers, not passive recipients.

Music in the Primary Years

Junior Kindergarten to Grade 5

All students in the Primary Years Programme (PYP) have class time with dedicated music specialists. Beginning courses teach students the fundamentals as both vocal and instrumental musicians, and are built on year-by-year.

The talents learned by our young musicians complement what they are learning in their regular classes: math, reading, language, social development, and motor skills are all tenants of music at Meadowridge.

Music begins in a child’s Junior Kindergarten year with a play-based program, which starts our young musicians out on a program of discovery, exploring the wonders of music.

This play-based program continues into a child’s Kindergarten year, where they build upon their knowledge of music while discovering music, singing, and rhythm. In Grade 1, students learn to read and play simple patterns of beats through rhythm activities, and they develop melody by singing and playing bells and xylophones; and, of course, having fun!

In Grades 2 through 5, our young musicians learn to read and write traditional and iconic music notations. Students also hone their talents as both vocal and instrumental musicians, playing hand drums, xylophones, hand bells, rhythm instruments, and marimbas.

They’ll learn to keep the beat, match the pitch, and name, recognize, and play a combination of notes.

"Early music training seems to shape the young brain, strengthening the neural connections and perhaps establishing new ones."

- Dr. Francis Rauscher

Pictured Above: Students performing at our annual December PYP Music Showcase. Each year our PYP students perform in two showcases a year to families and friends showcasing what they have learned throughout the year.

Music in the Middle Years

Grade 6 to Grade 10

Students in the Middle Years Programme (MYP) learn the fundamentals of music and sound as both instrumentalists and vocalists, as soloist and member of an ensemble, and as artist and learner of the arts.

The concepts they learn progress in complexity year-by-year, challenging musicians to hone their skills and develop as artists.

Students learn to play guitar, sing, compose, and record music. The concepts they learn progress in complexity year-by-year, challenging musicians to hone their skills and develop as artists.

In Grades 6 through 8, students take part in a fine arts rotation, which includes musical instruction for one third of the year. In Grades 9 and 10, students may elect to pursue music further as part of their arts elective.

"Education in music is most sovereign because more than anything else rhythm and harmony find their way to the innermost soul and take strongest hold upon it."

- Plato

learning to live well, with others and for others, in a just community

Meadowridge is an independent, private, coeducational, secular, preparatory, International Baccalaureate (IB) school teaching students from Junior Kindergarten (pre-k) to Grade 12, located in British Columbia near Vancouver. Meadowridge was founded in 1985 and has a current enrolment of 635 students representing over 40 nationalities.